summer soup

the stove is calling my name, like the growing heaps of vegetables in my refrigerator. a summer soup must happen. i am waiting for it all to come magically together though, the motivation, the inspiration, the recipe, the right moment, the-the. i have it all, the corn, carrots, broccoli and onions, maybe tomorrow morning? i barely cook and live alone and like honey toast and granola. for six years all i shopped for were breakfast foods because my mid day meal was provided via the doctor's office and those super drug reps. thanks to them, most food became a burden with so many names. not to say i wasn't grateful in a some small way for the provision but the bad out weighed the good, if you know what i mean, for me at least it just wasn't healthy.

last friday i went on a bit of a shopping spree and found two pairs of black flats that actually fit. they've given me blisters though, but, it's just that flip-flops weren't going to cover it for me this summer. i am sure that most of you "have it all together". i am often shocked at the fact that i am beginning to have some things together, not just finding shoes i like, in my size. oh i'm not as concerned about fashion, although i'd like to find some rocket dogs in my size. i was thinking more along the lines of money and how money has played a primary role in how i define and project myself. it's obvious right, the moolah topic. who doesn't think about how the dough defines them? i have never felt like the amount of money i had in my checking account had anything to do with what was really going on in my life. it seems to me the middle of the road is the best here, i mean, in debt or poverty, having not is all one can think about. in wealth and riches, having much has it's own entirely different but similar problems, right? i also know extremes are extremely general but, i guess i am thankful for the middle.

over ten years ago i left chattanooga and moved to california. i left quickly and without much thought, with over eight thousand dollars in debt. within six months i was back and living with my folks, go figure. i had no intention of staying nor of paying back what i owed. a week passed and before i knew it, i had a job at cvs and walked there everyday, every week i handed my paychecks over to my dad. ha! who does that? i mean how embarrassing, absolutely one hundred percent humiliating all the way. to say the least and to make my point, one and a half years passed and i moved out with all debt paid back, all of it. it didn't feel all that great back then, no balloons or streamers, no party or new car. i didn't even feel like i had had anything to do with the accomplishment. i continued to ignore the whole mess, from beginning to end. needless to say bad habits are hard to break and debt, no matter what kind, is tempting and sneaky slimy, no matter who you are and your intent. the money battle has been difficult at times for me to overcome, but you know now, i am just in the middle of the road, no debt and pretty thankful for the mercies. thankful that my heart and mind has been won. i was struggling last weekend with other things and talking to my mom in the middle of the night and she was reminding me of some of my accomplishments. gosh. i cannot believe i actually, seriously forgot about the eight thousand dollar pay off, easily a thing of the past.

i hope i can break the habit of relying on gm food and high fuel calorie food and learn to provide and make myself some yummy summer soup. i hope that the mercies are just as great and that in my learning i never forget the other things i have overcome. i owe changing my habits to myself and to those i owe and to my local farmers.

have a bright and merry fourth of july people!

oh blog a minute

my travel mug hasn't seen a good scrub in over a week. i rarely run my dishwasher, i pack it full, like my garbage, the garbage my parents offered to take to the shoot, last night when they were over. i cannot stand throwing just half a garbage bag full down the shoot, such a waste. i mean if you're gonna waste, waste a lot at once, not these piddly piles of stuff. this past week has been much like a re-fresh of my heart, in so many ways. many ways better left unsaid. i finished reading the chosen, exactly by the first of july but not exactly on time for book club. which was great anyway, although it is seriously difficult getting a word in edge wise, which i don't mind at all, at all.

i have now begun to pick up animal vegetable miracle by barbara kingsolver, before bed and sleep, and am enjoying it. i plan to spend the rest of my evening working on "fortunately". i have been studying the roots of fortune and hope to mingle them with the gifts of the spirit, doubt it's gonna work but, i'll give it a good try.

do you all have anything to say?

taking guidance

is not easy for me. fortunately, with age, with each new year it becomes easier for me to listen and hear between the lines. at thirty two my ears can fine tune themselves to the barely audible, fairly quiet, deeply internal voice, if i so chose. after all there are complicated consequences that result from discarding the facts. the truth is fairly simple but very difficult to want to hear, see, or believe. i never thought it was that funny when after having been told the truth and believing the opposite, i'd find myself completely unable to hear at all. i found that the less i heard, the less i was ever going to hear, i was quickly becoming deaf. just as i was losing my hearing, i found my vision and my ability to believe dissipate as well. oh the neglect. looking back i know i felt utterly, desperately in despair but now with a little age under my belt, thinking that maybe i know just a little bit more, it is all too funny. funny how taking guidance was absolutely distasteful and seriously uncool.

three or four or five years ago i thought i might be a decent enough artist to become a member of the local association of visual artists, AVA. after just one year i let that membership expire, and decided to fight conformity and structure and opportunity. to hell with organization. to hell with becoming a better artist, i didn't need the hassle of meeting some standard of mediocre impressionistic art. needless to say i knew i wouldn't miss out on a whole lot. now three or four or five years later i decided i wanted to be in that artist directory. uh? yeah you bet you, taking guidance feels really really good. you know it? thirty five bucks stood between me and that artist directory and you know how long it took for me to take heed and whip out the old credit card? um...only about a minute. yhep, that's right.

you know what? a membership to AVA doesn't mean anything to me but this one little itty bitty opportunity. and really i like this idea of a growing desire to share my art. finally. it is easier to listen than to bear the weight of neglect. taking guidance is difficult but i am thankful that guidance never gave up on me and figured out that in the depths of my heart i wanted to make nice art and share it with my community.

thanks kk1000

happy summer

today is a work day. early morning freezer paper stencil-made. new art work for upcoming art ed council auction and trying my hand at simple, yet blurry polaroids.

in my mind it is never too late to try something new, for me that is. i have always used polaroids as a means of taking head shots, silly and serious head shots of myself, none of which will ever make debut here or there. they will stay hidden between my journals.

summer here today is making itself known, a tumble of thunder mixed with a sizzling humid bolt of lightening. yum, cook me up some. you know i'm dorky. as soon as i posted "csa" i heard the words, on the t.v. so yeah. the rest of the day i am going to help a person celebrate their birthday. we shall see how that goes. have a happy first or second day of summer, wherever you are at.

eating for my eyes

wednesdays used to be no waste. remember when? i barely remember. it is difficult uncovering and discovering these days when so many do it full time. i have found some things i'd like-like but do not need and won't be purchasing but think they're worth a small bit of your time. for instance i am now getting a csa {can someone help me? i have no idea what csa means} bag a week full of vegetable bounty. oh yeah well um but, i need good food and carrots aren't on the list of things to share.
saturation for one

sparkle for two

and starlings for three

ok so they're not starlings but "s" was apart of my running theme, having nothing to do with the csa bounty or the carrots.

it's just been one of those days. happier now though that i've gotten new canvas that just happened to be 30% off sale. now finally i may actually have something to show for my non motivated post clothesline self. i'm thinking of fortune. and not my own fortune, and not fortunate but what i haven't quite figured it out, when i do i'll let you know. tomorrow night, that is thursday is my third to last time at the rx. it's not going to solve my restlessness to be finished there but it may help me eventually manage my time or some of these priorities.

eating for my eyes. watching my dairy intake. buying a new bicycle. learning to make new art. reading the chosen by chaim potok. getting eight hours of sleep. sending out clothesline invites. crabtree farms picnic. pool time with the nephews. sleeping past seven in the morning.